Journal of Natural Environment
Year:2013 | Volume:66 | Issue:1|Papers Count:12

Fungi include a large group of organisms that are found in different ecological conditions and are important components in forest ecosystems. The northern forests of Iran are mountainous mixed forests, and have high biological diversity. The aim of this research was asses influence of physiographic factors on abundance and diversity of wood macrofungi. After of primary field inspection fungi samples were collected in summer and fall seasons from oak and hornbeam trees. The collected sampeles belong to compartments 110, 207 and 311 in educational and research forest of the University of Tehran. Totally 190 samples of macrofungi from oak and hornbeam tress were collected in three compartments, 114 samples of collected specimens belong to wood decay fungi. The collected samples were identified according to standard sources based on macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of fungi, in Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection. The Duncan test was used for statistical analysis by SAS software. Results showed significant relationship between the physiographical factors (altitude, slope, and aspect) and abundance of fungi in (p<0.01), the most of macrofungi species were found in altitude between 800 to 1200 M, on slopes 0 to 20 percent and in the southwest and west aspects.

The Persian wild ass (Equushemionusonager) has the smallest population among various wild ass subspecies and has only two isolated populations (500-600 individuals), that has been left in Iran. Therefore, captive breeding and re-introduction with post-release monitoring is considered a reliable conservation action. The present investigation illustrates efforts to re-introduce the onagers to its historical range in the Kalmand-Bahadoran protected area and presents monitoring efforts within the first two years of the scheme. Accordingly, a total of 12 onagers including 5 males, 6 females and one foal were released from Tang Hanna enclosure to Kalmand which have been trans-located from the GourabOnager Breeding site to the release site. Short- term post-release monitoring was undertaken between July 2010 and July 2012 by means of direct observation. The social structure of released onagers did not facilitate contribution of all stallions in breeding, resulting in a smaller effective population size during the monitoring phase comparing to its actual number. Maternal herd occurred in an area of 20820.9 hectares in contrast to a solitary stallion roamed within a convex of 5941.7 hectares. Intra-sexual competition encouraged the stallions to disperse longer than females which made them more susceptible to a variety of threats and even one adult stallion died during dispersal. Due to the small number of founder population, its growth rate is low which necessitates releasing a few females and at least one stallion from other onager populations in the country to motivate population increase and to prevent probable inbreeding depression.

Nemone Tehran Poultry Slaughterhouse with an area of 13000 m2 is located in Region 3 of District 5 of Tehran Municipality, in the Morad Abad quarter. The current research aimed to assess environmental impacts caused by the slaughterhouse operations. To do this, the methods Scaling-Weighting Checklist and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) were integrated. The required criteria and potential options were initially identified using the Scaling-Weighting Checklist method through analyzing the project impacts. Delphi questionnaire was applied to finalize the introduced criteria. After drawing the hierarchal structure and pairwase comparison of the criteria, the Eigenvector technique was used to prioritize the criteria and options in the environment of the Expert Choice software. In order to obtain the total index, the criteria weights were firstly multiplied by the criteria scales in each option of the checklist, and then the resultant values were added up. The results obtained from analyzing the slaghterhouse effluent quality showed that it is not suitable to be discharged into the surface water or wells. It is not also suitable for irrigational and agricultural purposes. Noise assessment results revealed that the measured noise is beyond the permissible noise level in the ambient air. The results of air pollution suggested that the amounts of the parameters NO2, SO2 and CO are lower than the standard presented from emission of stack and environmental standards. After determining the weights of criteria in terms of the slaughterhous pollution, the first priority was given to the wastewater criterion with a weight of 1.278. Noise, air and odor pollution with a weight of 0.261, 0.216 and 0.091, respectively, were assigned as the next priorities. The socioeconomic and cultural environment with a weight of 0.699 obtained a higher rank compared to the physicochemical and biological environments which were weighted 0.237 and 0.064, respectively. The health criterion was weighted 0.783 with the highest priority in the socioeconomic cultural environment. The optimization of the wastewater treatment system as well as constant monitoring of the effluent quality were proposed as the most important practices which may mitigate the adverse impacts caused by the slaughterhouse.

The current study aims to ordinate ecological groups in the wetlands of northern and eastern slopes of the Sabalan mountain and investigate their relationship with environmental variables. The location of wetlands was found using field surveys and satellite images. In total, 32 wetland sites were identified for the sampling purpose. 320 sample plots (relevé) were selected using the systematic-rondom method and their plants were classified using the TWINSPAN method. The study of vegetation cover was undertaken using the Braun-Blanquet method. The results showed that five main groups of vegetation could be distinguished, which include (i) halophyte ecological groups, (ii) mire ecological groups, (iii) wet meadows ecological groups, (iv) grass- legume ecological groups and (v) aquatic and heliophyte ecological groups. The statistical analysis showed that there were significant differences between plant groups and altitude, canopy cover percentage, pH, OC% and geophytes plant percentage at 1 and 5 percent significance level. The results of ordination (DCA) also showed that main environmental factors affecting plant groups were soil characteristics (EC, pH, dependent cations), land form, humidity and altitude.

Economic value of natural resources is increased via tourism resources function. Natural environment in the desert area has great potential for attracting tourists and in this respect it has a nonmarketable value. Making these values marketable may lead to rise up the economic value of natural environment in the desert area. One of the most important natural environments in the desert areas of the Yazd province is Bnadak-Sadat. This area is located on the mountain slope with seasonal rivers as well as areas such as the Chelle cave, attracting many tourists in every year. In this study the economic value of this desert area was determined based on a tourism approach in 2010. To do this, 263 questionnaires based on the Mitchell and Carson method were completed by tourists visiting Banadak-Sadat. The results showed that the tourists had willingness to pay 6760 Rials per visit and the recreational value of this natural environment was estimated to annually be 1.1 billion Rials. The actual value of this region will become clearer by investing at least up to the recreational value obtained in order to increase the number of tourists and associated incomes.

Natural sites with spiritual values are parts of land or sea that play key role in conserving biodiversity and cultural identity. The aim of this study is prioritizing protected zones with spiritual values. In the first step for this survey, based on literature review and according to multi criteria assessment, convenient conservation criteria were compiled, then for each of criterion, indices were considered that was able to be mapped and measured. In order to prioritize conservation criteria the Delphi method was applied that led to present 6 criteria and 10 sub criteria. Afterwards by implementing Multi criteria assessment, 3 conservation zones was identified in Neyshabur Township and 32 percent of this township''s lands that equal to 243362(ha) wasallottedfor conservation. The largest zone with 140502 hectares area is located in adjacent to Neyshabur city and the smallest one with 826 hectares area is in Raisi protected area. Then, zones were prioritized for conservation by TOPSIS method and on this basis the zone adjacent to Neyshabur and the zone located in Raisi protected area,which included 18 percent and 0.1 percent of the studied area, respectively arethe most important and the leastzones for conservation.

Development of industrial activities around the world, especially during the last decades has resulted in environmental pollution rising. Soil pollution is always considered as one of the most dangerous environmental threat for human’s life, fauna and flora. Heavy metals such as arsenic are potential hazardous elements in generating the soil pollution. These materials could be entered into the body through different routes and cause significant adverse effects. In this study, the efficiency of soil washing technique in removing the contaminated soil resource with arsenic has been investigated. The research was conducted by collecting soil samples from a power plant site in Tehran, Iran. The tests were conducted in three flushing sequences of 2 hr, 4 hr and 6 hr and pH values of 12.7, 6.9 and 2.3. Moreover, an eight percent solution of methanol was used throughout the experiments to treat the samples. The results of this study demonstrate that at 25°C, the average removal efficiencies of 73%, 63% and 55%, were achieved in various alkaline, neutral, and acidic environments, respectively. For 50°C, under the similar conditions, however the average removal efficiency values were 78%, 72%, 67%, accordingly, thus indicating the higher arsenic removals at higher temperature of 50°C. Moreover, the analyses of soils denoted that the optimum flushing sequence for the samples was achieved at 4 hr after starting the experiments.

This study was organized to investigate the effects of domestic and industrial effluents on Lighvan Chai water quality using macroinvertebrates community and the concentration of nitrat and phosphate. Based on persampling results, seven sampling site were selected. Aamples were collected in April, May and June 2010. Seventeen families of macrobentics were found in Lighvan Chai River and Siimolidae and Chirnomidae were dominant in all sites. The concentrations of nitrate and phosphate showed some fluctuation from April to June, however in site 1their concentrations were stable from 0.0 to 0.1 ppm, respectively. In site 7, nitrate and phosphate concentrations changed from 6.7 and 5.8 in April to 8.2 and 7.3 in June, respectively. The population of Beatidae, Leptoceridae, Chironomidae and Siimoliidae families showed significant (P<0.05) changes from dite 1 to site 7, during sampling period. Family biological index (Hilsenholf Indicator) changed from 3.30 in site 1 to 7.61 in site7 in June. The index showed the water quality of site 1 belongs to pure class (II) and water quality decrease toward downstream, so that the water quality of site 7 belong to polluted class (VI). Although water of sites 1, 2 and 3 were showed to be non-polluted, intensive development of tourism, ranching and dairy industry and the entrance of domestic, agricultural and industrial wastewater might result in pollution of water body.

One of atmospheric phenomena of dry and semi-dry areas and areas adjacent to these areas is the phenomenon of dust and production of particulate matter (PM10) that have a lot of environmental hazards. In this research, the purpose is investigation of temporal variations of PM10 concentration during 2005-2010 and influence of meteorological parameters on it. Meteorology information have obtained from April 2005 to August 2010 at synoptic station in Kermanshah and also, PM10 samples were collected from April 2005 to August 2010 at Air Quality Monitoring Station in Kermanshah. Then, data have analyzed using EXCEL and SPSS software. The results of monthly variations of PM10 concentration show that july and january months have minimum and maximum PM10 concentration, respectively. Highest PM10 concentration have been related to April 2009 to April 2010. Also, the results indicate that the relationship of relative humidity, precipitation and percentage of calm wind with PM10 concentration are inverse and the relationship of temperature, percentage of prevailing wind and velocity of prevailing wind with PM10 concentration are direct. Therefore, It can been concluded that meteorological parameters have effected PM10 concentration.

Beech forests in midland areas of Hyrcanian forests of Iran are the most important forests having the highest degree of naturalness. These forests are the valuable source of wood production and other forest products. One of the most important characteristics of plant communities is the spatial pattern of trees. Ecological process in forest ecosystems are directly influenced by the spatial patterns of trees and environmental constraints. Quantifying of spatial structure is an important component in describing natural ecosystems and their biodiversity. For appropriate management of forest ecosystems informative indices with minimum cost and time are needed. The aim of this study is to analyze the stand structure and spatial pattern in mixed beech forests. Data were collected from a 48 ha compartment in the educational and experimental forests of University of Tehran. Species and DBH of all trees with DBH > 7.5 cm were recorded and also the position of each tree was determined using azimuth and distance in order to prepare a tree position map. Using the K-Ripely function, the spatial patterns of Fagusorientalis, Carpinusbetulus, Acer velotinum and Alnussubcordata were determined as clustered. Results of the K-Ripely function were compared and confirmed with nearest neighbor of Clark & Evans index, which was considered as a control index. This research emphasizes on the spatial statistics application for tree spatial pattern investigation and the applied index and function in it provide useful information for sustainable forest management. Indeed, to be aware of natural process in forest ecosystems, forest managers need to evaluate natural forest structure and use the values of structure indices and function as reference for sustainable and close to nature management.